'Weak,' Hunter huffed, summing up the new monster's capabilities. The beast evereated a bit deeper into Leo’s mind, judging the Guarding Two-tailed Shadow unworthy of its time.

  He snorted, not really surprised at Hunter's rea. This is only the entrance's guardian. There might be something stronger inside. And if there's not, I holy won't pin. I would rather for this to go as smoothly as it .

  'Whatever,' Hunter grumbled and cut off their e for the time being. Leo could reactivate it whenever he wanted, but just like the beast said, the monster in front of them wasn't a real dao them, not with their matg affinities.

  The's have some fun, shall we?

  Giving Cra a quice, Leo nodded back towards the tunnel. "Stay away. I will deal with this as fast as possible... And please, try not to die in the meantime."

  The woman's eyes darted betweehering of monsters and Leo. "Aye..." she gulped. "I will leave it to you… Shout if you need help."

  "Likewise," Leo chuckled as Cra retreated. Now, what you tell me about our new friend, Bestiary?

  Race: Voidling | Subspecies: Guarding Two-tailed ShadowExpected Potential: F+ to E-on of choice: Cws, Shadows, JawsKnown weaknesses: Fragile bodySpecial evolution in the Shadow Tail line. Found only in Rifts or s of said species. They guard the entrand exit to their domain with their life. Two-tailed Shadows are unnaturally fast, often felling their prey before it be noticed. Additionally, as a Guarding variant, they trol the o some degree, and their e to shadow affinity is slightly better than that of a Shadow Tail. It is advised to only ehose beasts if you possess an ability that disturbs their defense.

  That's... a lot of information. Leo blinked. Even if most of it is pretty obvious. Thanks anyway, System.

  Rolling his shoulders, Leo extended his bdes again a shadows coat the sharp surface. He didn't need any ability to deal with the guardian's defense; he had a whole affinity for this task...

  The Two-tailed Shadow stiffened, and wheook a step towards it, the beast hissed. Instantly, the Shadow Tails behind it jumped into higher gear. They all rushed towards the Void Gate, no longer carrying about waiting in a queue.

  Not gonna help you anyway. Leo snorted and, with a surge of Reinfort, dashed towards the rger-than-average feline.

  Not to be outdone in the plete beginning of the fight, the beast roared and stomped on the ground hard. In respohe entire rembled, and all of the Vetilim surrounding them exploded in movement, giving Leo fshbacks from the sed Cataclysm.

  So that's what 'trol of the ' means. Great... Leo grumbled as he had to ge his initial dire and dodge an onsught of Vetilim tendrils. Cra better be alright back there. This might be a bit harder than I thought...

  Leo became a whirlwind of death as all the endrils closed on him. He cut and sshed at everything in sight while his tails spped away all the offenders who tried to sneak on him. He didn't even need bloodlust, focused or not, to do this; his body simply listeo all his demands.

  All the while, the Two-tailed Shadow stayed back, still overlooking the evacuation of its kin.

  Alright, that's enough. Leo growled, fuelling more Esseo Reinfort. His speed skyrocketed, and he flew past all of the tendrils, shadow spears once more f above him.

  The structs sailed ahead, f the guardian to finally leave its spot. Yet, it wasn't the end of the beast's troubles as Leo followed with his own onsught, scattering all the unfortunate Shadow Tails who remained near.

  Fast. Leo admitted as his sed ssh just barely ected with the monster's side.

  The Two-tailed Shadow shrieked, and instantly, shadows burst out of its body, hoping to skewer the Akirian. At the same time, Vetilim tendrils also caught up, snapping at Leo like an angry snake.

  Just as annoying as I remembered. Leo cursed, cutting through another swarm. In the meantime, a vast amount of Essehered in his body, feeding on every ive feeling that flowed through him.

  Just a bit more... And now!

  At once, hundreds of tiny shadow bdes shot out of Leo's body, rainih upoire chamber. The onsught of Vetilim stopped while the few remaining Shadow Tails fell to the floor, wailing.

  Only the Guarding Two-tailed Shadow stood tall, its eyes bzing with fury.

  Liked that? Leo grinned. A small modification to Eruption, supported by over half of my Essence, and we are finally alone. No more running and hiding.

  The beast hissed, evidently not agreeing with his thoughts. Shadows began to pool underh it, slowly climbing the Voidling's body, almost doubling its size. And then, out of nowhere, the row split, f two identical monsters.

  "What?" Leo muttered, sing the Voidlings.

  Guarding Two-tailed Shadow (Voidling) | Rank: F+ | LVL: 12 | Type: Shadow, Grace, Surface, Special

  Same thing, but each of them has only oail. Iing... Not wasting any more time, Leo sprinted forward, his bdes covered in both Kiss of Death and shadows.

  On the opposite side, the two beasts refused to meet Leo head-on and sprinted in opposite dires. Before he could reach the ohe Voidlings jumped into the darkness c the walls around them.

  Now, that's just rude. Leo scowled as he was left alone in the chamber. For a moment, he sidered going back to Cra, yet before that could happen, something moved in the er of his vision.

  A colossal mass of shadows burst out of the ceiling and shht toward him, its sharp tip ready to burn a hole through his body. To make matters worse, a sed ter, a simir struct joihe first, firing from a different angle.

  Leo growled and jumped away, removing himself from the path of each projectile. However, instead of crashing into the ground, the shadow structs disappeared once more, only to shoot out of a different wall a sed ter, their target obvious.

  I see how it is... The question is, how to deal with this without taking any unnecessary risks?

  As Leo pondered his choices, the game of cat and mouse tinued. With each missed strike, the mass of shadows, that he nnized as the split Voidling, tried again and again.

  What if I do that?

  The moment both shadows came close, Leo summoned a good k of Esseo his hand a ignite in a bright explosion of light. A hiss echoed in his ears as he dodged, shielding his eyes with the other hand.

  Alright, maybe I overdid it a bit. Leo snorted as he gazed down at the two swirling pools of shadows on the ground. With o hide anymore, they tried to reform into their former bodies, yet it was far too te.

  Leo pounced, cws digging into both structs as Devour surged to e everything in sight. Muffled screeches exploded from the deformed beasts, but Leo didn't give in until no Essence remained in their bodies. He had enough of this annoyance.

  Guarding Two-tailed Shadow (LVL: 12) sin | Experience awarded | 31 Ether gained

  Devour ed: +1 Vision

  And done. Leo sighed as the st of the guardian faded into dust. Not bad, but it could have goer… Though I pity anyone who will go against it without any ability that affects Esse might have reformed if I didn't have Devour...

  With a light shake of his head, Leo approached the rge, square ing Gate. A mass of red and violet, filled with thousands of shining stars, swirled within the arch, bringing back the memories of the st Void Gate he had seen.

  Good times... He snorted before calling out loud. "Cra! If you're still here, you e out."

  As only silenswered his call, for a moment, Leo began to worry that maybe Vetilim or even his own attacks had killed the woman. Thankfully, just when he was about to ehe Gate, Cra peeked out of the tunnel.

  "Oh thank god you're alive," she muttered, the light upon her hand illuminating the area. "This is the st fug time I'm agreeing to Holden's pn. Those bloody tentacles almost skewered me... Nothing like the hentai I watched o..."

  Leo stopped mid step, his eyes snapping towards the woman. Really? That’s what’s in your head now? What is wrong with you people...

  "Shite, I said that out loud, didn't I?" Cra grimaced, looking anywhere but at Leo.

  Of course you did, for fuck's sake. He grumbled internally, but oside, he just shook his head. "Nah, didn't hear a thing... So the portal..."

  odded right away, "Right, the portal. Are we going in now, or do you o recover? I had only seen a bit of yht before I had to run, but man..."

  "You're staying here," Leo cut her off.

  "What? Why?"

  With a long sigh, Leo motioo the ing Gate. "First, Identify it if you haven't before."

  Cra tilted her head but did as was told. Slowly, a frown cimed her face, and when she finally turo him, the question burning in her eyes was unmistakable. "This leads to a pocket dimension within the Void? You mean the same Void that fucked up the entire world?"

  Leo nodded. "Yeah... And as someone who had the displeasure of traveling there once, you don’t want to go there as a basic human. I survived only thanks to luck. Doubt you want to risk your life just to make Holden happy."

  Cra flinched as if struck. "Already doing that, but yeah, fuck that. I'm staying oh."

  Good choio idea if I could protect you ihere.

  ing even closer to the portal, Leo turo the woman for the final time. "Then I'm going in... You might want to hide somewhere he exit. Just in case."

  "I will do that," odded. "Good luck, Leo. I will be waiting."

  And to think that not even two days ago, you were trying to put an arrow in my head. Leo chuckled and threw the woman the same mock salute she gave him. "Till then."

  Okay... You did this before, Leo. Nothing to worry about. With this thought in mind, he took the first step into the portal, fully expeg to be spat oher side.

  Only it never happened.

  Uhe st time, Leo's steps never faltered. The portal just let him through, washing over him like a small waterfall. Hell, he barely had time to blink before the world of the Void greeted him once more.

  Looks the same as the pce where I found Nikra's shard. Leo mused, staring into the vast nothingness of bd red surrounding him. This is hough...

  While Leo nded on a tiny rocky isnd that housed the Void Gate, a narrow passage led to another, much rger, floating isle. Anywhere he looked, his vision was filled with shadows, or rather structs created from them.

  Trees, grass, bushes, and even some barely noticeable ruins stood atop the isnd. To make it more iing, Leo had already spotted several Shadow Tails jumping across the trees or entering different shadows and disappearing pletely.

  It's kinda beautiful. Leo admitted, his gaze falling to the dark mist that spilled from the isnd's edges, slowly fading into the vast nothingness. A true paradise for any shadow creature...

  Hunter hummed within his mind, the beast finally awake. They both felt the pull towards the isnd, the natural attra. However, they also khat if they were to succeed, this pce had to cease to exist.

  Nothing good st, eh? Leo sighed. Time to get to work.

  Yo. I kinda fot to upload chapters here, but guess here we are. I mainly post this story on Royalroad, so if I even fet to put it here every Monday or Friday, just go there. Thank you all for reading, have a good day.

  Patreon (10 Chapters ahead | Over a month ahead of RR/SH): https:///Chaos65 Discord: Land of Chaos